Meet Vanessa Valerio of VaVaPro in Park Hill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Valerio.

Vanessa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Five years ago, I was living in NYC and everything in my life was going well, except that I wasn’t where I thought I was going to be in my early thirties. I was still not married and didn’t even have a boyfriend. Being from The Dominican Republic, I felt pressured from my family and from society, so I made finding a husband, my second job. I was dating like the world was ending, but every guy I would meet would end up ghosting me, or not wanting a relationship. I was going thru an emotional roller coaster and it made me depressed. Then I started talking to other singles and they were going thru similar situations, and I felt like I was not alone, listening to their stories made me feel better and gave me hope. So I thought that if those stories helped me, maybe they would help others, so I started collecting these stories and put them together in a podcast, which I called Singleling.

Singleling got to a lot of people who sent me emails telling me their stories and asking for dating advice. Because of the response of the listeners, after a year of doing recording the podcast, I decided to take the show on tour to different cities, with different comedians and storytellers telling their dating tales. People loved it and it was very rewarding to see how people received the live show. We had sold-out shows in New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Denver. It was an amazing experience to be on stage sharing my story with so many people and answering their questions.

Its been almost four years that I started Singleling and I have enjoyed so much helping single people with their dating lives, that I wanted to continue not only helping singles but also entertaining everyone. That is why I started a small production company called VaVaPro. With VaVapro, I produce other people’s shows from different cities and bring them to Denver. The next show I am producing is on August 9th by The Moth’s host David Crabb, from Los Angeles, performing two shows and a storytelling workshop; the next one will be in September, a comedy show by New York-based comedian Jeff Simmermon.

Has it been a smooth road?
Telling stories and producing events are two of my favorite things in the world, but they are a lot of work!

I think the most difficult thing is to promote the shows and make people know or believe that you are putting together a good show and that they should buy tickets to see it. It is frustrating to see how people would spend hundreds of dollars on a big concert even if they won’t see the performer because the venue is so big… however, they think a $10-$20 ticket for a comedy/storytelling show from a local and/or independent artist is a bit expensive. Selling tickets is always the hardest part.

Another challenge is when one of the performers cancels at the last minute. Not too long ago I produced a 2hr storytelling show in New York with three performers and 15 minutes before starting one of the performers canceled and I had to come up with 20 minutes of material to fill out that space. It can be fun, but it is definitely challenging.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Vavapro is a storytelling events production company and under it, I am producing other people’s shows and also my own, like Singleling live events and other storytelling shows.

We specialize in storytelling and comedy shows. We are known for putting together really fun shows with great content and a fun experience.

I am very proud of having been able to sell out shows in so many cities, that I have not even been in before. But I am most proud of getting satisfaction emails from the audience because that means that the message that I am trying to convey was received and that the audience learned something while also having fun.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Denver is a great city to start a business like mine. It is not easy, but it will never be easy, anywhere. In the case of what I do, Denver is a good place because The Moth opened the door of storytelling curiosity, so people want to see more live storytelling after going to The Moth, and there are not that many shows that offer this experience, so we try to take this opportunity and to fill that gap.

Pricing:

• Next Show: Jeff Simmermon Comedy 9/19 $15 @ The Bakery (2132 Market St.)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vanessavalerio.me/vavapro
• Email: vanessa@wearesingleling.com
• Instagram: @wearesingleling
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/vanevale23

Image Credit:
All images are by Alex Tabar

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